A yurt or ger is a portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used as a dwelling by nomads (a people with no fixed home) in the grasslands of Central Asia.

Yurts consist of a wooden circular frame carrying a felt cover. The felt is made from the wool of the flocks of sheep that accompany the herders. The wood to make the external structure is not to be found on the treeless steppes, and must be obtained by trade in the valleys below.

The frame consists of one or more expanding intersecting wall-sections, a door-frame, bent roof poles and a crown. The Mongolian ger has one or more columns to support the crown and straight roof poles. The self-supporting wood frame is covered with pieces of felt. Depending on availability, felt is additionally covered with canvas and/or sun-covers. The frame is held together with one or more ropes or ribbons. The structure is kept under compression by the weight of the covers, sometimes supplemented by a heavy weight hung from the center of the roof. They vary with different sizes, and relative weight. They provide a surprisingly large amount of insulation and protection from the outside cold of winters, and they are easily changed to keep the yurts cool for summertime.

A yurt is designed to be dismantled and the parts carried compactly on camels or yaks to be rebuilt on another site. Complete construction takes around 2 hours.